Chris and Paula Riches from Irrewillipe East make the transition from dairy to livestock
Moving to beef and sheep is paying off for a southwest Victorian farming family chasing happiness along with wealth.
SPOTLIGHTS are strategically positioned above one stand in the Romsdale Park shearing shed.
They have long been a feature — a necessity — and something owners Chris and Paula Riches rarely considered. That was until a shearer wondered aloud why there was a requirement for such elaborate lighting.
“He asked why we have those spotlights in here,” Paula said.
“It was because, normally, by the time Chris would get to crutch the sheep when we were milking, he was crutching them at night to go on the truck in the morning to the market.”
Chris and Paula didn’t think much of the exchange at the time.
After all, they were about to start a busy week of shearing and had up to 1400-plus ewes lambs to get through.
But in retelling this story, it was clear these lights, like the dairy along the farm driveway, were just one of the many reminders of how much their business has evolved in a few years.
Romsdale Park, a family farming enterprise at Irrewillipe East, near Colac, in southwest Victoria, used to milk up to 200 dairy cows.
The Riches’ days were punctuated by morning and night milkings, while a flock of 300-500 sheep and a contracting business diversified their income and buffered tough seasons or low farmgate milk prices.
Chris had milked cows for almost 30 years, joining his late father, Hugh, and mother Janice straight from school.
This part of the world has always been prime dairy country, with its 762mm average rainfall, sandy loam soils and proximity to milk processing plants.
But three years ago, the milk stopped flowing at Romsdale Park.
Chris and Paula had considered expanding the dairy to continue milking but chose not to, having little confidence in the industry following the infamous farmgate milk price drop and “clawback”.
“For us, to build a new dairy we were looking at three quarters of a million dollars,” Chris said.
“That’s a lot of money to throw into a new dairy just to keep milking cows when our boys didn’t want to do it.”
“The boys had no passion for dairy, they used to work their butts off helping us, but they had other passions,” Paula added.
“James has always had a strong interest in the sheep side of the farm and Tom has always been mad for tractors, but since our changeover he has been loving the beef cattle side of things.
“We knew whichever way we went would involve more debt to do whatever we did.
“But we figured, from a personal perspective, we’d be happier and have a better lifestyle.”
Bovine dairy farm licences — a requirement for operating a commercial dairy farm in Victoria — have dropped 10 per cent from 2017-18 to 2019-20, according to Dairy Food Safety Victoria’s annual report. According to Dairy Australia, Victorian produced 5.98 billion litres in 2017-18, slightly more than the 5.62 billion produced in 2019-2020.
BEEFED UP
IN their second last year of milking, Chris and Paula reared 80 dairy-beef calves, pushing this to 200 in their final season.
These animals underpinned their starter beef herd, but were supplemented by the purchase of 50 Angus heifers from local breeders’ Q5 sales in January and March 2018.
They also researched beef genetics and attended field days, settling on Angus bulls from the Banquet stud at Mortlake for their first sire purchases in March 2018.
At the same time, they had also leased a nearby block of more than 202ha in preparation for the business transition.
By September 2018, the dairy herd was dispersed, and their attention turned to their new venture.
During the next year Romsdale Park beef numbers ballooned to 500 as Chris and Paula “flipped cattle” from northern regions, in some cases more than doubling their money.
“Several loads of steers came down from up north,” Chris said.
“All we did was fatten them, grow them out and move them on.
“It probably worked out because of the conditions, and it was an opportunity to get ahead, during the transition.”
Romsdale Park’s contracting work, including pasture renovation, seeding and fodder conservation, was also expanding and sheep numbers had grown.
Chris and Paula also bought a nearby farm to expand their footprint to 344ha, almost doubling their original operation.
This new farm, at Pirron Yallock, is where Paula’s parents, John and Jan Reynolds, live. Having retired from their farming operation they now work with Chris and Paula when needed.
Eight months after buying the Pirron Yallock farm they finished leasing the 202ha and were again dispersing cattle.
Livestock prices had skyrocketed, following widespread rain throughout eastern Australia, and Romsdale Park held two online auctions, selling surplus animals.
This left Chris and Paula with 250 of their highest quality Angus breeders — dominated by Banquet bloodlines — and a business plan to maximise cashflow and market flexibility.
HAPPY RETURNS
THE Romsdale Park beef herd now calves twice a year — in spring and autumn — with the heifers from the former calving retained as replacements.
They will turn off about 100 steers a year, aiming for a liveweight of about 330kg, or up to 450kg depending on conditions, but they do not have a fixed marketing plan.
During the past two years they have sold cattle under contract to Coles feedlots at 330-380kg liveweight, into the restocking market and most recently at open auction.
After decades of having “no control” over the sale of their milk, Chris and Paula are determined to make the most of the flexibility in the beef industry and will happily alter sale plans to suit the season or chase a higher return, relying on the advice of their livestock agent. For example, last month (February) they sold 15 of their Romsdale Park bred, Banquet-blood steers at the monthly Mortlake store market.
Despite a yarding of nearly 5000 cattle, prices were hot, and the steers made $5.80kg.
With an average liveweight of 270kg, they returned $1566.
“They were smaller than what we would normally sell at, but we sold to take advantage of where prices were at,” Paula said.
“It was a bit of a milestone; they were the first ones we had actually sold through the saleyards that were 100 per cent ours.
“A lot of last year’s calves were sold direct to feedlots. It was nice to achieve a good result.”
Romsdale Park is now starting to reap the rewards of their breeding program in the quality and consistency of their beef animals.
They are hoping this same attention to detail will deliver results for their sheep flock.
MICRON MOVE
VALLEY Vista Poll Dorset rams from Coolac in NSW underpin the Romsdale Park sheep genetics, with replacements — mostly first-cross ewes — bought in each year.
Buying in replacements has been the best way to manage land availability, according to Paula, and it has also enabled them to trial different genetics.
Searching for “a strong ewe that can handle the conditions” the couple dabbled with, Coopworth and Merino-Highlander ewes and have settled with Merino-Border Leicesters bought from Harrow.
Yet to receive the results from the most recent wool test, Chris and Paula hope their fleece will be in the high 20-micron range.
Chris said there was value in the Merino genetics, despite their need to run “black-feet sheep” to handle the conditions.
“If we can get down to 25 micron, the wool price from 28 to 25 nearly doubles,” he said.
“You are making money for nothing because we still have lambs as our main priority.
“So, we are looking for ewes where we can get that bit better wool cut.”
Chris and Paula hope to push ewe numbers to 1500 this year and maintain a spring and autumn lambing for ease of management and cashflow.
“It is good because we have the autumn lambs out the gate by Christmas and the spring lambs, they are due to be weaned now (February) and go on to summer crops to finish,” Paula said.
“You want the spring lambs gone by April because it gets too cold here and they just don’t finish,” Chris said.
Lambs are primarily sold into the trade market, at 23-27kg carcass weight, but if the season does not co-operate, they offload them locally or at the Ballarat store market.
GROWTH CURVE
BOTH Romsdale Park farms, at Irrrewillipe East and Pirron Yallock, have a perennial rye-grass pasture base with summer crops used for additional green feed and pasture renovation.
This year, 10ha of lucerne has been grazed and baled, with “phenomenal” regrowth from the wet summer and warm conditions in early February.
Producing all their own fodder, one of the biggest differences Chris and Paula have noticed since pivoting from dairy farming has been the reduction in costs.
Gearing their business towards year-round cashflow has also made it easier to lose the “safety blanket” of the monthly milk cheque.
Asked if they regret their decision, now dairy prices have turned and the seasonal conditions have reduced costs, the couple don’t skip a beat.
“We have more debt, but we are happier,” Paula said.
“We have freedom and flexibility, and we are no worse off financially,” Chris added.
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